Confessions of a Teenage Zombie

The next day, I was all dressed and ready to watch a movie. There was still no sign of Shane, which was a little worrying. What if he did something like get himself stuck in the dryer? I considered calling Art; he had left a number for if we wanted to call him.

On the other hand, though, he was there to help his mom. If I bothered him about Shane's whereabouts, that would be less time he spent with her. It was a dilemma, and Ryan was left watching me as I would dial a few numbers, and then hang up.

"Just call him and ask!" Ryan exclaimed, keeping himself perched on his chair. "Come on, what if he caught a whiff of blood and ran out? We could have a disaster on our hands!"

"I know, but Art is probably super busy, and I don't wanna bug him." I looked down at the phone, contemplating just leaving to get to the movies. It's not like Ryan would come chasing after me. I sighed and finally dialed Art's cell phone number. It rang twice.

"Hello?" he greeted. I took in a deep breath, wondering why I was making such a big deal over this. I guess it was just something I always did.

"Hi," I finally said. Art let out a giggle. Why did he have a normal sounding giggle when I sounded horrendous? "Um... Ryan and I have a problem."

"Did you guys have a fight?" It made me feel bad that despite the fact that he was gone to take care of his mother, Art was still setting time aside to give me his full attention. He was way more mature than me.

"No. Actually, we're getting along smashingly." I liked the word smashingly. "Actually, it's Shane. We haven't seen him anywhere, and we're worried about where he could be. I thought he'd be blubbering about you being gone, and he's not. Ryan thinks he could be roaming outside in search for a snack, but we don't know what to do."

"Okay, hold on. I need to put some groceries in the car... Shane! What the hell are you doing!?" Art yelled. I'd never heard him so angry. Ryan's eyes widened, and I guess he overheard Art. I could hear some talking in the background and then a slam. Art didn't hit Shane, did he? Or vice versa?

"He's with you?" Considering the yelling and the slamming, that had to be one of the very many stupid questions I've asked in my life.

"He apparently snuck into my trunk when I was packing up to visit my family," Art explained. His voice was dripping with anger. "I'm sorry, I really need to go."

"Okay," I replied. "Wait! No one hit anyone else, right? That slam sounded bad."

"I closed the trunk before he caught anyone's scent." The amount of anger he was spewing was terrifying. It's like when your parents are upset, and you think they're going to freak out at you. "I'm sorry. I love you, okay?"

"Yeah. Love you too. Bye." I hung up the phone. I turned around, coming face to face with Ryan. "Shane's been in the trunk of Art's car since he left yesterday. He's pissed off."

"Will they be okay?" Ryan looked like he was going to cry, and to be honest, I wanted to cry a little too. This wouldn't break up their relationship, right? Because then it would be awkward in the house.

"They're going to be fine." It wasn't the truth, but I guess it wasn't a lie, either. I knew as much as Ryan did, and we'd just have to wait until they got back to see how things would be. "I gotta get going, though. I'm gonna catch a movie with Alex."

I looked around nervously before turning and leaving. I didn't exactly know what else to say, so leaving seemed like the best thing to do. It was possibly cowardly, but I just needed time to cool down and think.

I got to the movie theatre twenty minutes later. There was no sign of Alex, so I went to the ticket booth.

"Can I get two tickets to the two o' clock viewing of Dear John?" I inquired. Brent gave me some money after we had gone to Starbucks awhile back. Only fifty dollars, and he told me to spend it wisely. This was wise, right?

The guy behind the booth looked at me before snickering a bit. He got two tickets and handed them to me.

"Fifteen dollars," he stated. I gave him the money and took the tickets, turning and walking over to the bench I had sat at yesterday. Dear John wouldn't be too much like a chick flick, right? That guy was probably just being a dick.

It didn't take long for Alex to show up. He sat down on the bench next to me.

"I was pushy on the phone yesterday." I looked over at Alex. He quickly shook his head. I sighed, because honestly, I hated how much of a pushover Alex seemed to be. I hoped he'd grow out of it. I smiled and gave him one of the tickets.

"Really?" He sounded so happy, so I guess it wasn't too bad a trade off. He pulled me into a hug. We both stood up. "So... we should go in?"

"If we want to see the movie, that would be the best plan of action." We both smiled and went into the theatre. I bought popcorn, soda and candy for Alex. He attempted to pay for it, but I stopped him. He laughed a little as we walked into the movie room.

Surprisingly, the room wasn't too full. We took seats in the middle of the room, and Alex immediately got started on his large bucket of popcorn. There was extra butter, and I honestly wondered where he put all the food. He wasn't exactly a big guy.

"Thanks, Brendon," he said, looking at me. I looked at him and smiled. He offered me some popcorn, but I shook my head. I turned back to the screen, where they were showing trailers for movies. They were mostly for romance movies I would never voluntarily watch.

I could hear Alex munching on his popcorn. I glanced over, seeing him stare down at the bucket. I could tell he was probably thinking about the money I spent on his food. He probably, definitely felt bad that I didn’t get anything for myself.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was only really five minutes, the movie started. I tried to get into it, really, but couldn’t enjoy it too much. I was really only doing this for Alex, after all.

The movie ended, and I had to carefully take Alex’s arm and lead him out of the theatre, as he was too busy crying to pay attention to the fact that the movie was over. He sniffled as we got outside.

“Sorry.” He wiped his eyes and breathed in deeply. I had to admit, I could feel some tears in the corners of my eyes, but I had wiped them away quickly.

“It’s fine. I mean, all romance movies make people tear up and sometimes cry,” I stated. I looked at my watch; it was nearly four. I looked at Alex. “Want me to walk you home?”

“You sure? I mean, you watched the movie even though you didn’t want to, and you got the tickets, and you bought my food.” He felt terrible. “You’ve done too much, I can get home okay.”

“No, I insist. Come on, I don’t mind,” I stated. He smiled and nodded his head, which I assumed meant he was fine with me walking him home.

It was a nice walk; about half an hour. Alex and I talked about comic books and super heroes. His favorite was Batman. I liked the Joker, even though he was a villain. I mean, come on, the guy was a nut job, but really clever.

We got to his porch. We both turned and looked at one another.

“Thanks again for going to see Dear John, even though you probably hated it.” He laughed nervously.

“You know, it’s not like I’m going to die from watching a movie I might not be interested in,” I said, laughing. Alex laughed too, although he didn’t get why I would find my statement so funny. After we stopped laughing, we ended up just staring at one another.

I leaned forward to kiss Alex. He gasped and crossed his fingers over his lips, so I ended up kissing his fingers instead. I pulled back and looked at him. He looked around nervously before laughing a little. He ran up the stairs and into his house, slamming the door shut.

I sighed as I slid my hand down my face.

I had very possibly just fucked up a good friendship I was starting.